The palm oil industry has played a vital role in the economic development of Malaysia and the economic expansion in developing countries primarily drove the growth in palm oil consumption. However, consumer preference towards palm oil products is changing due to the population increase, rapid urbanisation, rising income levels, development of communication tools, and negative campaign towards palm oil. Hence, this study was conducted to identify consumers’ preferences towards palm oil to understand this predicament further. In this study, the data were obtained from 107 respondents through convenient sampling from different supermarkets in Shah Alam, Selangor. Moreover, factors such as socioeconomic, marketing, and non-marketing factors were investigated, which employed descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The results showed that majority of the respondents were Malay females, married, and were in the age range between 31 and 40 years old. Most of these respondents completed secondary schools and were now working in public and private sectors with a monthly income between RM2001 and RM3000. It was found that most of the respondents purchased the bottled “Saji” brand palm oil at least once a month, and advertising was the primary source of brand information for the respondents. Furthermore, the multiple regression analysis of marketing factors revealed that product and price were the most significant factors that influenced consumer preferences towards palm oil. Meanwhile, non-marketing factors indicated that the quality of products, as well as advertising or campaign, were the significant determinants which affected consumer preferences towards palm oil. On that basis, this article proposed a few recommendations to enhance consumer preferences towards palm oil in the future.
This initial exercise was to determine the paddy yield response functions with fertilizer application on a Malaysian soil in order to incorporate the economic consideration of the Malaysian fertilizer cost and paddy price variations. The yield response cur fertilizer could be described by a quadratic equation and this can be used in fertilizer rate prediction. The fluctuating fertilizer costs and paddy prices were used to estimate the economic fertilizer rate. It was found that the economic ferti fertilizers without subsidy were 130.96kg/ha, 41.57kg/ha, 64.20kg/ha respectively for the chosen soil types. The simulation revealed that the economic fertilizer rate and maximum profit were influenced by the current fertilizer that subsidies were not given for the fertilizers.
Rice is one of the most essential staple foods for a large part of the world's human population and has a large influence on human nutrition, the livelihood and food security of several billion people living across the globe. Similar to other Asian countries, the rice crop plays an important role in Malaysian society as it fosters agricultural activity and is a major source of employment for many Malaysian farmers. However, the advent of free trade agreements, including the Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) and the WTO accession, pose challenges for the Malaysian rice production as the sector must compete with low-cost exporting countries. This outcome implies the need for not only structural changes in trade, but also adjustments at the farm level to improve efficiency and competitiveness. Further developments in the rice sector will therefore depend on the availability of sufficient, relatively low-cost and high-quality rice, or in other words, on the competitiveness of rice production.
Application of smart farming technology in rice farming activity is relevant in facing the challenges in achieving food security and improving the wellbeing of farmers. In Malaysia, food security is synonymous with the adequacy of rice domestic supply for the Malaysian population. Therefore, to achieve the target set in Sustainable Development Goal 2 which is to achieve zero hunger, the rice sector needs to be more competitive by encouraging farmers to utilize modern technology. Smart farming is an emerging concept of farm management that combines information and communication technologies into modern machinery like IoT, drones, and Artificial Intelligence to increase the value of agricultural products as well as reduce the cost of production while improving the well-being of farmers through income increment. Therefore, this study is conducted to explore the adoption of smart farming among paddy farmers in one of the country’s granary areas which is in Barat Laut Selangor under the administration of the Integrated Agriculture Development Area. This study will employ qualitative methods and interviews will be conducted. This study is urgently needed due to the twofold agenda: Malaysia is moving towards a high-income country and the importance for food security assurance has been acknowledged.
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